RealNetworks Surges on Subscription Strengths

Streaming media giant RealNetworks reported that its first quarter income was up dramatically thanks to the strength of its subscription services, including a music subscription offering called Rhapsody that was recently buttressed to better compete with Napster and its Napster To Go service. Revenues were up 27 percent, from $60.4 million in the same quarter a year ago to $76.6 million this year. RealNetworks earned $810,000, compared to a loss of $10.4 in the same quarter last year. Music revenues--derived almost completely from Rhapsody--were up by a whopping 86 percent to $22 million, suggesting that people are quite happy to rent and not own music, thank you very much. Indeed, RealNetworks recently revealed that it has over 1 million Rhapsody subscribers.